How have the reactions to the purpose driven approach on Mirinda been?

We haven’t had content that has gone viral this way before. It’s showing up in every WhatsApp group of mums. You know it’s working, when it comes back to you! Fortis got in touch saying they want to associate with this since we were doing something around mental health for kids; so did an individual doctor from Apollo. It obviously means we have struck a chord. As Mirinda, we’ve always entertained consumers, but we asked ourselves, if we are genuine, can we make their lives a bit better?

Our role was clear. We aren’t saying we can solve the problem. All we are saying is that while exams and studies are important, you need a break too. I would consider this a success if there’s even one less suicide among kids.

Emojis are still quite popular. Why the decision to try a new approach this year for Pepsi?

I personally believe we could have done emojis for another year. But given Live for Now and the spontaneity associated with Pepsi, the team felt it would appear tired. We’d initially called this campaign Emoji 2.0. But finally when we hit on this — using both English and regional words and phrases that are part of the youth lexicon —it seemed like a powerful idea. Greed took over (smiles).

What went into the creation of this campaign?

We thought we’d do English across the country and languages according to each state. In the first phase, in Mumbai for example, you will find Marathi, Hindi and English. It is a complicated campaign and we didn’t want a situation where Marathi words are the only ones available in Tamil Nadu due to a supply chain mix up.

How did you choose the words?

I think it’s the first time any brand has gone vernacular to connect. We got 80 to 90 words in different languages from a shortlist of 300 to 400. We put in some that people know easily and others that many would not understand, ‘nom-nom’, for instance. Maybe seeing it on the can will make them want to find out what it means. This continues our shelf to media strategy and even our TVCs are about the cans.

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Fast Forward

Gatecrash

The social commentary we are getting is outstanding. Conventional thinking suggests aspirational brands stick to English. But with indi cool and national pride coming back, people are open and receptive to Hindi and Punjabi. In retail environments, they make people stop in their tracks and look. I believe FMCG companies have not leveraged even 5% of the potential of packaging. Of course, we’d like people to pick the cans and take them home, not just stand around reading them.

Did you check to ensure words in a particular language don’t have a different, possibly offensive meaning in another language?

You start off wanting to do the right thing. But if you are not careful, you can step on someone’s toes. We had a team from each of the states whetting every word. It went through the agency team, our team and legal. So far, we’ve not heard anything adverse. If there was something seriously wrong, we’d have heard of it in 24 hours.

We heard a story of someone who proposed to his girlfriend saying ab toh bol daal. I would have loved if it had been via an Instagram picture holding the bol daal can but we will reach there. (Laughs)

I personally believe we should shake things up a little in phase two of the campaign, which should break in September or October, and take some of these words across the country.

While still on the issue of causing offence, around the time of the Kendall Jenner ad, there was some adverse discussion on social media about the ad you’d created, allegedly inspired by the FTII strike. How did that affect you?

Actually, we conceptualised that ad long before the FTII strike but it aired around that time. We have to respect the consumer’s opinion. There were stray conversations but it was nothing meaningful and, in any case, we are not running that ad right now.

How has your strategy when it comes to using celebrities changed?

As much as possible, we use celebrities who can double up as sources of authority. There’s a reason for PV Sindhu to talk about Gatorade or Vikas Khanna to talk about Quaker. It’s not always easy to be honest, but we are trying to apply that filter. No offence to the other brands, but Sindhu is a brilliant fit with Gatorade in particular. The first thing we asked her before we signed her up was if she actually used the product; she did. Globally, the endorsement fees for Gatorade are typically far less since athletes believe in the brand. It’s a small brand but I’m convinced it will become big in the next five years since the fitness culture has hit India.

Are people shifting out of the CSD (carbonated soft drinks) category?

Not really. In the consumer demand map, CSD was over indexed. For the longest time, it was the only option available irrespective of whether you wanted to quench your thirst, have a drink with food or at a party. Consumers are now getting discerning, finding their most preferred beverage for each occasion. This is coming to India later than it did to other markets; it happened in SE Asia, a decade ago. I don’t care if a consumer opts for a CSD or sports drink. My job is to ensure they have a PepsiCo product in the right size at the right price.

The beverage category has suddenly become extremely crowded. Has the mandate of category creation has shifted to newer players?

As a large company, we are such a mass machine that there are small opportunities that we don’t give attention to. Our challenge is how can we have the advantage of scale and the nimbleness of small companies? We don’t always get that right, but it (the competition) is a very healthy trend. Consumers don’t care if a beverage is from a large or small company: all they want is a product that has a place in their day.

The smaller companies put a lot of good products out and pressurise us to change our ways of working. If our innovation used to take a year to get to market, we are putting systems in place to crunch that time to six months. These people spur us on. They are doing the category a service and keeping us on our toes.

Paperboat and more recently Dabur have pushed traditional beverages in a big way. Is that a space you’d like to get into?

It’s something we discuss regularly. We are seeing a massive comeback of traditional food and drink in a contemporary way. At a recent bottler meet at Taj Delhi, they served paani puri and papdi chat which would have been unthinkable a few years ago.

Our own gold standard is Nimbooz and Nimbooz Masala Soda; as close as you can get to nimbu pani. But what holds us back is the customer expects the same experience as a homemade product which is very difficult to replicate. We need to innovate better to satisfy but we haven’t cracked the code yet. If I tell 10 people to make shikanji, each one of those will taste different. We’ve launched upma under Quaker Nutri Foods and I can’t tell you the amount of R&D that went into getting something similar to a homemade upma.

Converting from unpackaged to packaged is a great strategy but it’s very hard to pull off from a price and experience point of view. Even our competitors hit pay dirt only sometimes. We’ll have to wait and see who is able to leverage and monetise it.